Health

Doctors' leaders want new health secretary Jeremy Hunt's arrival to improve relations between the profession and ministers, which became very strained as the coalition pushed through its NHS reforms.

"The appointment of a new health secretary provides a fresh opportunity for doctors and government to work together to improve patient care and deal with the many challenges facing the NHS," said Dr Mark Porter, the British Medical Association's chair of council.

But Labour questioned Hunt's suitability to be responsible for the NHS, pointing to a row over Hunt allegedly questioning whether the NHS should have taken pride of place in the Olympics opening ceremony. "Right now the NHS needs somebody who believes in its values and is ready to stand up for it. Instead the prime minister has given it to the man who reportedly tried to remove the NHS tribute from the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games," said Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary.

They also pointed to Hunt having been one of the Conservative politicians, including serving and future MPs, who were listed as "co-authors" of a 2005 book published by the right-of-centre campaign group Direct Democracy which backed "denationalising" the NHS. One chapter of the book said that: "Our ambition should be to break down the barriers between private and public provision, in effect denationalising the provision of healthcare in Britain, so extending to all the choices currently available only to the minority who opt for private care."

Hunt's exact role in the book, Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party, which covered many policy areas, is unclear. "Co-authors" also included the education secretary, Michael Gove.

But along with the reorganisation of the NHS, efficiency savings and repairing tattered relations between government and the NHS workforce, there was an appeal for Hunt to ask the bigger questions about the future of the health system. "Top of Mr Hunt's in-tray will be making sure the NHS is financially sustainable for the future and fit to respond to the needs of our changing population", said Mike Farrar, the organisation's chief executive of the NHS Confederation. DC

Justice

Chris Grayling's appointment as the new justice secretary heralds a new hardline approach. David Cameron had grown exasperated with Kenneth Clarke and his ministerial team for what was regarded as an overly soft approach on law and order. "We have a rightwinger at the ministry of justice," one government source said of Grayling, who will lead a completely new team.

Clarke focused on managing the cuts to the prison service and the legal aid budget. Having largely taken the sting out of those two issues, he had recently been focusing on reforming community sentencing, introducing full work for prisoners and reforming the court system.

Grayling will regard these as his main priorities too, but he will be more hardline on sentencing than Clarke. But on prisons Grayling will be more liberal than some had assumed. He is a strong supporter of the "rehabilitation revolution" and was consulted as shadow home secretary when it was outlined by the Tories in opposition.

This is designed to reduce reoffending rates by providing incentives for the voluntary and private sector to find work for ex-offenders. Crispin Blunt, the outgoing prisons minister, was in the process of taking further steps to prepare prisoners for such work outside by increasing the amount of work in prison.

Downing Street will be hoping that Grayling will change the government's tone over the European court of human rights. Clarke famously had a public bust-up with Theresa May, the home secretary, at the Tory conference last year when she claimed that a man had avoided deportation by invoking his right to a family life on the grounds that he needed to care for a cat. As a staunch Eurosceptic, Grayling will have no problem agreeing with May.

Grayling will have to work with Clarke. The outgoing justice secretary will continue to pilot the justice and security bill through the Commons. NW

Transport

The biggest question facing the new minister is about airport expansion, and especially Heathrow. Patrick McLoughlin – the ninth transport secretary in six years, but familiar with the territory, as an aviation minister back in the Major government – is inheriting a row over what to do next: government policy rules out a third runway in this parliament, but the Treasury has indicated it is open to the idea long term. The issue splits the government and backbenches alike. Many take his predecessor Justine Greening's move out of the transport department as a sign the plan is back on the cards – Greening had been a vocal opponent.

There is another unresolved battle over rail, with Virgin currently seeking a judicial review of the West Coast mainline franchise award. If Virgin's legal action is dismissed, McLoughlin will just have to deal with an angry Richard Branson. If not, the consequences could be more far-reaching – possibly a review of the franchising process, delaying a host of contracts up for renewal in the next two years. He may also push the Treasury to again soften the blow on commuters of planned rail fares, set to rise between 6 and 11% in January.

He will have to choose this autumn between the route options for the £33bn high speed rail network north of Birmingham — a decision with the potential to create new areas of local opposition, particularly in London and the south.

Roadbuilding woes lie further off. And for those Jeremy Clarksonites who believe there has been, in last-but-one incumbent Philip Hammond's words, a "war on the motorist", there is the promised, totemic raising of the motorway speed limit. But with road deaths climbing, McLoughlin may choose to let this one slip quietly away. GT

Culture

Maria Miller arrives at what was once called the ministry of fun with plenty of work to do. The little-known 48-year-old has only a few weeks before she will be handed a copy of Lord Justice Leveson's conclusions of his inquiry into press standards and ethics – and will have to contend with public and industry fall out – even though the decision as to how to respond to Leveson will be taken well above her pay grade.

She may also be in the uncomfortable position of being one of the first in government to learn whether Leveson is criticising her predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, and front up what is expected to be a governmental decision to respond to calls for press reform by ducking calls for legislation.

Her arrival also allows the department to return to normal business after Leveson's examination of Hunt's intensely scrutinised handling of the Murdoch bid for BSkyB – before the Olympics decision making at DCMS had simply seized up. A communications green paper was abandoned – a white paper is due at the turn of the year. But Hunt's thought to be quixotic local TV stations project has actually progressed so far now that it is likely to go ahead. There are 51 bidders for licences in 21 towns and cities.

Culture is a disparate, complex department with no shortage of potentially emotive issues. Miller has to safeguard the legacy – or sustainability – of the Olympics at a time when there is public pressure to see greater participation in sport.The arts sector is contending with the impact of a near 30% funding cuts and she will also have to decide matters more technical too – whether more public money is needed to ensure broadband speeds maintain pace with other developed countries, and take a decision Hunt was keen to duck: when – if ever – it would be necessary to turn off FM radio in favour of digital. DS

Environment

The new environment secretary, Owen Paterson, will be blooded into his new job in dramatic fashion: the start of the highly controversial badger cull in England. Animals will be shot within weeks, barring last-minute legal challenges. The cull aims to curb the scourge of tuberculosis in cattle and Paterson, when shadow environment secretary, wholeheartedly backed the farmers who support the cull.

That is the most pressing issue in his in-tray, but the alternating threat of floods and droughts require urgent attention too. That will be tricky given the huge budget cut his predecessor accepted, the biggest of any major department. As a consequence, hundreds of flood defences that were in line for funding have not been built. With climate change increasing flood risk, the environment secretary sits one downpour from disaster.

Rising food prices will be a challenge too, but the most important issue Paterson faces is far broader and at the heart of a fierce battle in cabinet: the fate of David Cameron's pledge to make his government the "greenest ever".

As the economy has tanked, the Tory right has looked to bury that pledge in the name of growth at any cost. The environment secretary has been important – if not all that effectual in the guise of the sacked Caroline Spelman – in fighting that idea, for example by producing landmark studies on the value of the natural environment to the UK economy.

With strong green voices in decline around the cabinet table, Paterson's key role will be how he uses his new power to argue against – or for – anti-environmental policies across government. DC